Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-25
THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS OF THE
REVOLUTION.



N0gdzinc Of american HiStorU of Mr.
Paynes article on his supposed new dis
covery of the fact that Ethan Allen and
some other Vermonters held negotiations
with Gen. Haldimand, the British com
munder in Canada, on which we have
heretofore commented the New York
Ercutng Post noticed the matter as fol-
lows.
From Ottawa, Mr.. J. l.. Payne sends II con.
| tribu ion of much value, based ON tie Do
mnun arChlN es, winch shows that before the
close of the Revolution the reading Vermont
crs, including Ethan Allen and hls brother,
| were playing risky game of Dluti with Con-
gress, 10y intrgucs looking to union with
| Canada If NermOntS claim to be an indepUn.
| dent state should be finally rejected, in the
| interest of New York. The evidence Is new
and evidently trustworthy.
The paragraph drew out an interesting
communication from Mrs Sophia c. Page,
widow OF William Page, the artist, and
daughter of the late Henry Stevens, the
Vermont antiquarian. Her letter to the
! Post, which has just reached our eyes in
the columns of another paper, is as fol
| lows:
| | beg YOU toaSsure Nermonters that they
need not have the least fear OF anything
to their dscredit in the new version of
| Canadian complications.
The alumni of Burlington, Vt, will
remember the old Vermont antiquarian,
| Henry Stevens, who more than % years
ago had two rooms at the university stored
with historical papers and books. Many
| of these original manuscripts went to the
! New York State librsry after his death,
| especially those that related to New York
! but the first and greater part OF his Origi-
nal collection OF manuscripts was irrepa-
raAly lost by the burning of the Vermont
state house at Montpelier about 1851. But
all is not lost in my memory, and perhaps
the DOmiuiOn's archives are not more
abundant than my father 5 were 10 years
ago, when as girl | copied many FOR Mr..
| Peter Force of Washington, under my
fathers direction, for the. American Ar
chves, published, think, by Mr.. Force.
! believe my father knew every man
and boy in Vermont descended from
the famous nine who were in the
secret of this risky game of bluff" They
were "A band of brothers, and as firm Il
part of the State as the pines and hemlocks
on the Green Mountains This connection
led up and down the Connecticut River
valley and across into New Hampshire
aud Massachusetts. My father went to
their houses and rummaged and mOused
in their garrets and the old churns and
tea boxes gave up their ghosts and manu-
scripts. Irasburgh WAS not II days drive
from Barnet on the Connecticut River,
and fathers gig brought home bags of
"mV Documents from the home of the
of Ira Allen, brother of Ethan: and | well
remember the look OF the manuscript
journal of one of these Aliens, made while
II on board Il ship of war, as prisoner, on his
way to England. The paper WAS more
than Il foot wide and half as long again.
Bags and saddlebags and boxes OF other
family papers came in, till our house was
packed like Il iunkshOp, and then, tor
fear they might be lost by fire in a wood
en- house, or dispersed in case Of his death,
they were all arranged, and his hundreds
; of volumes of bound newspapers, from
the earliest printed in the State-the North
, star of Danvllle, Vt, having only four
= | papers missing in 30 yearS-all We're de-
posted by permission in our State-house
and father was the Vermont Historical
and Antiquarian society president pro
TEN, etc. held his own meeting annually
and reported to himself, and no man even
b. enjoyed his own society better.
, From these original manuscripts, iuclud
ing all the secret correspondence with the
, British during the Revolutionary war
game of bluff and it became not cavlare
to my childhood, but its very locust and
. wldihouey
But the same Nemesis that followed the
> destruction of the Humboldt library in
London of Henry Stevgns, Jr., had fore
, doomed my fathers most precious manu-
scripts, though 50 carefully stored IN our
granite State-house in Montpelier-the
sybil preserving ashes to leaves-to fertilze
2 my memory
But oral tradition did something that
the spinning sisters should give to embroi
der this web of our history. There were
$ long yarns from my father in those ride;
5 IN the old gig over the mountains. | an
sure the Green Mountain Boys need MOI
Y worry now about aud faded treason stain:
. being discovered. The Green MountaI
r boys of the Revolution were sharp enough
[ for those times, and my fathers supreme
r Joy was to have discovered and possessed
!, an original autograph letter of Washing
+ ton, showing he understood and approved
= their strategy and was in the secret witt
. the nine Nermonters in regard to tn,
:. bluff game" with Congress but it wa
. not prudent then to communicate thu
n facts to Congress, and so Vermont wa
/ comtorted in her struggle for admission
$ to the Union. think | copied this lette
: from Washington, and remembered wei
v the line bold autograph. My tBther ob
/. tanned copies from the Queens State pape
$ office in London of counterparts the Brit
/ ish had of this correspondence. SO TIT
5 history of the scheme was clear. | hav'
no present aids to memory, but as REGAL
| it the story ran thus:
Vermont wanted to be admitted int
/ the Union. There were objections b.
y States contesting for ownership of Yer
II mont. Massachusetts claimed it undo
J grants to Gov. Shirley, Now Hampshir
|
II grants. and above all, New York claime'
1t, and the feud was deadly between tn
d Workers and the Green Mountain boys
and to fight and kill Yorker on tn
western border-to Il Nermonter-waS Il
relishing as happy bear-hunt. Then, 4
a course, the British in Canada, and dow
4 Lake Champlain, and by 1iconderoga, an
a Crown Point, and through Vermont, wer
> on the lookout-it was handy route I
New York city Congress, by contestants
was made to believe or suspect that Vel
mont was not loyal in her wish to ente
p the Union. Washington knew the truth
, that the smart Yankees were playing thi
bluff game to keep off the British on thei
)r border in Canada, and that the nine Vel
al monters-I forget all their names, but tn
Aliens. amt think Moses Roblnson-wer
p holding cipher correspondence with tn
te British for that purpose. My father ha
the key to the cipher, and the terms TO
k going over to the British were We're III
10 derstood, but every proof also eXlste
that it was a ruse for present protection
a.. dane food 81